Can they be beat???

by Ian Van Anden
Asst Sports Editor

The MC track team dominated their home turf, finishing first in Feb. 11’s Fighting Scot Invitational. In their second of three home meets, the men’s team has finished first both time and the women have finished first and second (second in the Midwest Invitational and first in the Fighting Scot Invitational).

The men have just continued their dominating indoor track season and have yet to finish anything but first this year. As for the women, they have finished no lower than third place in their four meets this season.

Senior Albert Greene left his mark in the triple jump as he broke the track team’s longest standing record with his triple jump that landed him 46’1-1/4 feet into the sand. The triple jump record had stood since 1931 and was set by current MC Hall of Famer John Weatherly.

With this record-setting leap, Greene launched himself into the ninth national ranking. Junior teammate Alex Stuart gave Greene a run for his money, but saw Greene soar over him to beat his mark by a foot. Stuart finished second in the event.

The Fighting Scots found more success in the field events as two sophomores showed up big in the pole vault. The Scots saw Jonny Henkins and Peter Sprecher clear 16’0 for the first time in their careers. The two finished first and second respectively.

On the women’s side, senior Christina Reiner grabbed first in the pole vault competition by reaching 10’6. Megan McKenna grabbed a first place finish in the long jump as she leaped an incredible and season-high 17’1-1/4.

Ashley Widdop and Shannon Turczyn finished first and second respectively in the 55-meter hurdle event. Turczyn set a personal record with her 8.72 time in the preliminaries. Widdop won the even with a time of 8.61 seconds.

The men had six other members of the team finish in first place in their respective events. Jeff Rebholz captured two himself in the shot put with a distance of 48’9-1/2 and then in the weight throw with a distance of 52’10-1/4.

Junior Tyler Rundle won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.41. Other juniors winning their events were Tim Frank in the high jump (6’4) and Kel Bond in the mile as he broke four and half minutes, finishing in 4:24.91.

Luke Reschke represented the freshman class well by winning the 400-meter dash with his time of 51.01. The sophomore class had Aaron Etienne capture the win in the 5000 meter run as he set a personal record, which broke the tape at 15:45.08.

The MC men simply dominated the relay competition as they won three out of the four events during the meet. The 4x200 was captured by Rundle, Brad Gross, Dante Daniels and Bradley Franks in a time 1:29.92.

A squad made up of a freshman, two sophomores and junior captured the 4x400 event in a time 3:29.38. Jake Scott (freshman), Adam Rodriguez and Tim Meredith (sophomores) and Bond (junior) were the men that ran the race.

The final men’s relay team to capture a first-place finish was Etienne, sophomores Kyle Schierer, Scott Heair, and junior Darin VanNattan finished in 10:56.91 in the distance medley.

As for the women they captured one first-place finish in the relay events when junior Kila Cox, Widdop, Turczyn and Katey Vaccarello teamed up to capture the 4x200. The squad broke the finish line in 1:50.61.

The Scots also had several third-place finishes in their domination of their Invitational. Daniels set a personal record in the 55-meter dash finishing in 6.59 seconds, he also captured third in the 200-meter dash in 22.64 seconds.

Freshman Nick long captured third in the 55-meter hurdles, gliding over the obstacles swiftly with a time of 8.11. Zack Wilson helped the Scots continue their dominance in the field events as he claimed third in the weight throw, posting a 49’11-3/4 foot throw.

The Scots have two more meets left before they host their final meet of the year which will be the Midwest Conference Championships that begin with the schools spring break (Mar. 3-4).

On Friday Mar. 17, the Scots will compete in the UNI DomeOpen and then the following week on Saturday Mar. 25, they will try to continue their undefeated streak at the Schlender Invitational.